


A Marauder Carol

by unknowableroom_archivist



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Humor, Marauders' Era
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-03-19
Updated: 2009-03-19
Packaged: 2019-01-19 23:21:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,177
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12420354
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/unknowableroom_archivist/pseuds/unknowableroom_archivist
Summary: [Fic Exchange '08] Join Sirius on his journey through time, space, and tangoing house-elves as he searches for the true meaning of friendship.





	A Marauder Carol

**Author's Note:**

> Note from ChristyCorr, the archivist: this story was originally archived at [Unknowable Room](http://fanlore.org/wiki/Unknowable_Room), a Harry Potter archive active from 2005-2016. To preserve the archive, I began manually importing its works to the AO3 as an Open Doors-approved project after May 2017. I e-mailed all creators about the move and posted announcements, but may not have reached everyone. If you are (or know) this creator, please contact me using the e-mail address on [Unknowable Room collection profile](http://www.archiveofourown.org/collections/unknowableroom).

Silence. If there was any sound Sirius Black had become familiar with over the past three-and-a-half weeks, it was silence. For nearly a month, the three boys he'd come to regard as his entire family had given him a wide berth. In fact, he was pretty sure that if it were possible to eliminate him from their lives completely, they would have accomplished it. Unfortunately for them, classes prevented that. Sharing a class schedule with James, Peter, and Remus originally seemed like a good thing. After all, giving him the cold shoulder for five classes a day, all week, couldn't be possible, right? Wrong. Despite Sirius' most valiant efforts to reconcile, his brothers refused to give him a second chance. If he could get them to listen for just a few moments, Sirius was sure he could fix this hole in his life that was quickly consuming him.

As the days had passed, Sirius had grown more and more anxious, certain that if this wasn't resolved before the next full moon, it never would be. It was this desperation that led him to his current location – spending Christmas Eve sitting in a back corridor, waiting for James or Remus to pass on patrol, when the four of them should have been having a good laugh and making plans for the upcoming full moon. He wasn't quite sure what he was going to say when either arrived, but he was nearly certain that groveling would be involved. Anything to resolve th–

"It's after hours, Black." A voice pulled him out of his brooding. Sirius turned around to see the Head Boy glaring at him. "Get back to the tower before I'm tempted to take points from my own house."

Sirius quickly jumped up, eager to get this final apology behind him. "James, I've been waiting for you. I want to talk."

" _Get back to the tower, Black._ I have nothing else to say." And with that, James shoved past Sirius.

Furious at this latest display of bitterness, Sirius retaliated. "POTTER! YOU _WILL_ LISTEN TO ME!"

James continued to walk on as though there had been no outburst behind him.

_Ignore this,_ Sirius thought. Aiming carefully, Sirius shot a Stinging Hex to the dead center of his back.

"WHAT ARE YOU PLAYING AT?" James roared. He turned and stalked back toward Sirius. "Firing at people's backs now, are you? You're more like your brother than I thought!" By this point he was right in Sirius' face, ready to have a go.

Disgregarding the comment about his brother, Sirius shoved James against a wall in a double attempt to let out some aggression and also get his point across. "What the bloody hell do you want from me, James? I've tried to apologize a thousand times, but neither you nor Remus even bother to give me the time of day!"

Shoving back with even more force, James pushed Sirius to the ground. "What do I want from you, Black? What do I WANT?" James broke off, turning away. When Sirius made an attempt to stand, James turned quickly, wand aimed at his chest. "I want you to stay – the – hell – away – from – me," he said, each word punctuated with a jab of his wand. "You're no better than Snivellus, as far as I'm concerned.

By this point, both boys were seething. James was standing over Sirius, contemplating whether or not to hex him. Sirius was quite through with listening to James' outrage.

"Done with me, eh? And I'M no better than Snivellus? Last time I checked, weren't you supposed to be the one who forgives? The _noble_ one? Way to turn your back on family." Sirius said all of this staring up at the boy he thought he once knew.

"You're no family of mine," James spat with disgust. He looked up as he saw a shadow coming around the corner.

"Is something wrong? I heard yelling, so I came–" Remus stopped as he took in the scene.

"No. We're done here." Without a glance at either boy, James walked away.

Despite his anger with Sirius, Remus made an attempt to salvage a  
situation that he knew both James and Sirius would regret later. He  
walked over and extended his hand to Sirius. "You just need to–"

"I don't need to do ANYTHING." Sirius ignored the offered hand and pushed past him, returning to Gryffindor Tower.

Like so many nights in the past, Sirius was unable to sleep. After fighting to keep from becoming tangled in his sheets throughout his tossing and turning, Sirius decided a change of scenery was necessary. Slowly getting up so as no to wake any of the other boys in his dormitory (that was a fight he simply didn't want to fight), he walked down to the common room and plopped on a couch in front of the dying fire.

"Some Christmas..." Sirius kicked a puffskein  hat had crawled out from underneath the couch.

He needed to apologize to James; he shouldn't have compared him to Snape. But hadn't James done the same thing, and first? No, Sirius would not apologize. If James wanted to make amends, he could try his hand at it. Sirius was through with the Marauders, those boys who so quickly threw away his friendship. He had managed life without them before Hogwarts, and he'd be able to do it again.

"Who needs them, anyway? It's not like I _depend_ on them or anything." He grimaced at the word, fully aware that life without the Marauders had the potential to be quite painful. Despite that, he was through with prostrating himself in front of James, Remus, and Peter; he was through with humiliating himself with no positive result.

"You're not humiliating yourself."

Sirius jumped at the new voice for two reasons – he thought he was alone, and he was under the distinct impression that he hadn't said anything about humiliating himself aloud.

"That's because you didn't say it out loud."

He quickly looked around for the person who had somehow managed to escape his notice yet interrupt his thoughts. "Who's there?"

"Surely you can't be so oblivious to your surroundings, Mister Black. Why, I'm fairly certain you've seen me on many occasions during your midnight romps through the castle."

The voice was definitely that of a woman, and from the sound of it, a relatively young one. There was something sad about the voice though, such a sorrow that he was unsure who this young lady was. "Who are you?"

A shimmer near the bookcase caused him to quickly look to his left, where he saw a surprising apparition. "Lady Helena? What are you doing in Gryffindor Tower?"

"I come as a warning, Sir Black. The ghosts of Hogwarts have taken a great interest in you and your fellow Marauders." The Grey Lady said this all very softly, gliding slowly toward him. "If you do not reconcile, we have seen the fate that awaits not only you and your friends, but the entire wizarding world."

No longer unsettled by a disembodied voice, Sirius' calm and cool attitude returned. He wasn't about to be pestered into humiliating himself again by the world's most self-centered ghost.

"Terribly sorry to hear that, Miss Ravenclaw, but there will be no more apologizing on my end. I've spent one too many Charms lectures vying for a piece of their attention. If they decide that I'm good enough for them, they can come to me." As Sirius said this, he tried very hard to sound indifferent, struggling to act as though their friendship meant very little to him.

"Mr. Black, please do not treat this as a joke. I know you are still quite young, but I strongly implore you to make amends. This fight will have astronomical affects on the entire world, both wizarding and Muggle societies. The ghosts' council can no longer sit aside and watch it happen."

"Well, if it's such a travesty, how about you just go on up to the boys' dormitory and talk some sense into those others? Why must it be me?"

"You have the largest role to play, and are the one in most danger of losing himself to this fight."

Shocked by her grave tone, Sirius was beginning to get angry. "Excuse me? _Lose myself_? What did you mean by that?"

"You shall see. Throughout the night, you shall be visited by three spirits, each of which will show you the true meaning behind  
friendship." The Grey Lady began walking away, solemnly.

"Excuse me, _meaning behind friendship_?" he asked critically. " _I_ know what friendship means; it's those other three who don't. You may want to go talk to _them._ "

However, his words fell on deaf ears, as Helena Ravenclaw had just morphed into a pile of Flobberworms. Flobberworms?

Sirius jerked out of sleep, having fallen asleep on the couch in front of the fire.

"I really need to stop eating so much salty food at dinner. Next I'll be dreaming about Kreacher doing the tango or something."

"Excuse me, sir," said a high pitched voice, "but what's a _tango_?"

"GAH!" Sirius nearly jumped out of his skin as he looked around to find the source of this second voice. "Don't you things know how to make any noise?"

Sitting next to him on the couch was a young child, no more than nine, and hardly of Hogwarts age. It was wearing what appeared to be old Hogwarts robes resembling those he had once seen in a yearbook from the 1920s, and its hair was cut into a short bob, giving it a strong resemblance to both a boy and girl. The young girl (or was it a boy?) had a face that embodied innocence, the look in its eyes unadulterated by pessimism. How Sirius yearned to switch places with that child.

"Pardon me, sir," the child giggled, "but you just don't listen properly, or else you would have heard me plenty."

"And who, pray tell, would you be?"

"I'd be the Spirit of Christmas Past. I've been summoned by the Hogwarts' Ghost Council to take you on a journey to your earlier years. I know not why you have been chosen for this honor, but I bid you take heed of whatever warning it was that the Lady Ravenclaw gave you. It is not wise to ignore the spirits, for they know that which you cannot imagine."

"Umm...sure. Look, little boy, err – or girl, I'd rather not relive those years. You don't know my family, or you'd realize it's really not such an honor to return to them. Thanks for your trouble and all, but I think I'll just be heading back to bed now. You have a good uhh, existence, and a Happy Christmas." With that, Sirius turned from the spirit and began walking toward the stairs up to the boys' dormitory. He had reached the third step when he heard a giggle behind him.

"Oh, this is going to be so much fun! Catch me, Sirius!" Sirius turned to see the spirit running at him, and although he was well aware that the spirit would be unhurt should he not catch the child, he automatically spread his arms open wide to grasp the boy...or girl.

He braced himself for the shock of cold that came when a ghost passed through you, but it never came. Instead he felt a warm, tickling sensation spread through his body. Upon opening his eyes, Sirius realized that the Gryffindor common room had been replaced by a room equally familiar, but much less comforting.

"Welcome home, Sirius."

Sirius looked around at his old room, the walls looking somewhat bare when compared to their red and gold counterparts from the present. In an attempt to place the date, he looked around at the pictures on his dressers. One picture stood alone on the desk: two boys with scraggly black hair, with their arms slung over each other's shoulders. The boys wore identical grins, and despite the age difference, one might swear they were twins. If Sirius didn't know that the black-and-white picture hid a pair of silver eyes and a pair of startling blue eyes, he, too, would swear the boys were twins. It was this picture of him laughing with his younger brother that caused Sirius to realize that he was in a pre-Marauder life.

Sirius separated his life into two eras, pre- and post- Marauders. The pre-Marauder era was marked by struggles to fit in with his family, not understanding why he was so unlike them. His best friend had been his kid brother, Regulus, who was his link to the rest of the family. Regulus was the peacemaker of the family, regularly explaining and rationalizing the Blacks' beliefs in order to placate Sirius.

The post-Marauder era of his life began months into his Hogwarts career. Being Sorted into Gryffindor finally solidified Sirius' growing thought that he wasn't much like his family at all. However, it wasn't until Regulus tried to persuade him to be re-Sorted that Sirius realized he was also very unlike his little brother. From that point on, Sirius immersed himself in the Gryffindor society, resurfacing with his three brothers, his true family.

* _SLAM*_

Sirius was pulled out of his reminiscing by a door slamming and the pounding of feet up the stairs. Almost immediately, Sirius could hear a second pair of feet join the first, and only then did he notice the Christmas decorations sparsely placed throughout his room and make the connection of when he had been returned to.

"You brought me back to _this?"_ Sirius turned to look at the spirit, who had remained silent while he examined his room. "How could THIS be beneficial in any way, aside from drilling into me further how much I've failed as a brother? HOW?"

"You need to see this; you need to see it from the outside." The spirit grabbed Sirius by the hand and slowly pulled him back to the wall, giving him a full view of the room.

There was no need to have a full view of the room, though; Sirius could remember this Christmas as though it were yesterday. After Christmas dinner, the entire Black family had retired to the den, where the kids played with their new toys and the adults commented on various current events. Everything had been going calmly until Sirius had decided that, because he was ten, he was an adult. Putting down his new toy broom, Sirius went over to sit next to his cousin Narcissa. He wasn't sure what they were discussing, but he believed he'd be able to pick up the conversation quickly enough.

"–and then that Mudblood dared to tell me I had the spell wrong!" The adults sitting around all laughed quite hard at his Uncle Cygnus, who seemed to have just told the punchline to a very funny joke. Unsure of what was so funny, Sirius turned and whispered to his cousin Narcissa.

"Cissy, what's so funny?"

"It's funny because that filthy Mudblood thought she was better than Father," she said, in a tone that seemed to say, 'it's really quite obvious, but I'll oblige you because you're a kid.'

"But I don't understand. Who's to say the lady wasn't better than Uncle Cyg?" he asked, still unsure on if he believed the stories about Muggle-borns being of inferior ability.

It was Sirius' luck that his mother heard this question and chastised him quickly, "Sirius, don't say such things! You know very  
well that lady has no more magical ability than a Puffskein."

"No, I don't. I haven't given every single witch and wizard alive a test on who's the best, and neither have you. There's no WAY you know who's the best," he shot back.

"SIRIUS BLACK! Don't you speak back to me! I want you to apologize to your uncle for insulting him, and then I want you to apologize to the rest of the company for speaking so rudely. NOW."

"No, I won't! You're wrong, and you know it!"

At this point, his mother jumped from her seat next to his father and grabbed him by the ear. She dragged him into the foyer, closing the door behind them.

"Now you listen to me, young man. I will NOT tolerate these shenanigans in front of the rest of the family, and I most certainly  
will not allow you to taint young Regulus' ears with your blood traitor ideals. Now, I want you to go back in there and apologize."

Seeing this as his only means of escape, Sirius complied.

"Everyone, Sirius has something to say. Sirius?" Walburga looked at him expectantly.

"I'm sorry, everyone," he said. Looking at everyone around the room, Sirius continued, "I'm sorry that you're all idiots and are too stupid to realize that there is no such thing as clean blood, and there's definitely no way to see who's best just by looking at their parents."

His mother's face had slowly been getting redder throughout his apology, and she looked as if she were about to explode.

"ROOM, NOW!"

A door slam pulled him out of his memory once more, but this time it was the door to his room.

"AAAAAAHHHH!" Sirius was staring at a very angry 10 year old version of himself, and was very aware of what was about to happen. He watched as the young Sirius continued to yell and began punching the walls with as much force as his weak arm could muster.

"Oh, wait wait! Don't punch between the –" _crunch_ "–dressers. The wall is hollow there!" He remembered too well the agony he had been in after ripping his hand out of the new hole he had put in the wall.

_Knock, knock._ The second set of feet had finally reached his room.

"Go away, Reg."

"C'mon, Sirius, let me in. She didn't mean it; come back down," Regulus pleaded through the door. "It's Christmas! Come play with our new brooms."

"No, Regulus. I'm not going back down there just so I can listen to them continue to put down people they don't even know. Go back down there, they like you." Sirius was standing a few feet away from the door now.

"Just ignore it. Or maybe try and listen to them...they're not so bad –" Sirius ripped open the door.

"You agree with them! You of all people, Reg! How could you? Will you ever learn to think for yourself? Or are you just going to follow Mum around for the rest of your life?" Sirius' anger returned with a new vengeance. He'd thought that at least his brother would stick by his side.

"No, Sirius, that's not–"

"I don't want to listen to you any more! Get out of my room, I don't want to look at you." He slammed the door in Regulus' face and turned to lie on his bed.

The seventeen-year-old Sirius turned to look at the spirit with a questioning look. "What good did that do? How is that helpful at all?"

"Again, you don't listen carefully enough." She grabbed his hand once more, the tickling sensation returning.

Refocusing, Sirius realized he was now standing on the outside of his room, standing next to Regulus, looking at himself.

"No, Sirius, that's not–"

"I don't want to listen to you any more! Get out of my room, I don't want to look at you."

Sirius turned to look at Regulus, who had gone very quiet. His head was down and Sirius could barely make out what he was saying.

"I was going to say they're not so bad sometimes. Sometimes, if you say it just right...they do listen to you. They might even agree." Regulus looked up and Sirius saw a few tears roll off his cheeks. He walked right through Sirius and down the steps, quickly wiping away the tears he didn't want anyone to witness.

"He agreed with me...he was going to side with me." Sirius was in shock from what he'd just seen.

Before Sirius could think too much on what had happened, the child grabbed hold of his hand again and the now-familiar sensation spread through him. Upon opening his eyes, this time, Sirius was greeted with the laughter of four fourteen-year-old boys, laughing as they bewitched snowballs to hurl themselves at the others.

A smile was quickly brought to his face as Sirius remembered this Christmas – it was the first Christmas with all of the Marauders at Hogwarts. In earlier years at Hogwarts, Sirius and Peter had remained at Hogwarts, while Remus and James went home to their families. However, that year James' parents were in the States on Ministry business and Remus' parents were traveling, searching for a new remedy to his furry little problem.

The snowball fight had begun when Sirius had been brooding about his younger brother, who, in second year, had already managed to befriend the wrong sort. In an attempt to bring Sirius back to a good spirit, James had Disarmed him and the other two had levitated an entire snow drift on top of his head, covering his body completely. It had taken him ten minutes to dig out of it, all the while plotting ways to get back at them.

Watching the sight in front of him, Sirius couldn't help but laugh; _this_ was how the  Marauders should always be. Fighting wasn't what they were made for. While Sirius was captivated by the laughter of his younger self and friends, the spirit grabbed his hand for the final time.

"Wait! I want to stay! It's perfect here!" Unfortunately, the warm, tickling sensation spread once more, and Sirius found himself alone in the Gryffindor common room.

"Where'd you go?" Sirius looked around for the young child. "What's going on here?"

"Well, we were trying to have a private moment, but apparently that's not going to happen."

Sirius turned to see a fourth-year couple embracing, whom he hadn't seen or heard, clearly caught at an inopportune moment.  
"Err...sorry...'bout that."

The couple parted ways and Sirius was once again left alone to ponder the events of the evening, as well as his apparent hearing loss.

_How does everyone keep_ doing _that?_

"Like GCP said, you don't _listen_ properly."

Sirius turned to see what looked like a smaller, more groomed version of Hagrid lounging on one of the chairs by the fire. He was dressed in a long, flowing green gown, and seemed to have a generally merry disposition.

"Who are YOU? And who's GCP?"

"Me? I'm the Ghost of Christmas Present. GCP, why, just saw GCP leave you behind! Can't have that bad a memory, can ya?"

"Umm...sure, okay. What's going on now?"

"What's going on now? Well, my boy, we're off on a spectacular journey, if I do say so m'self. Never do get tired of Christmas, and it's always such pip to see others celebratin'." The spirit stood and walked over to Sirius, extending his hand and looking at Sirius expectantly. "Well, what're you waiting for, youngin? We've got people to go and places to see!"

Giving the man a confused look, Sirius walked across the common room and took his outstretched hand. A feeling much more like a Portkey took hold of him this time, and he found himself being transported to new surroundings once again.

Looking around, Sirius found himself not far from his original location – he was now standing in the seventh year boys' dormitory, in-between a pile of Christmas presents and James' bed. At first he wondered at the reason behind visiting a dormitory filled with sleeping boys, but upon seeing the spirit put his head through James' bed curtains, he did the same.

The lack of noise Sirius originally took as a sign of sleep turned out to be a well-placed Silencing Charm placed by either James or Remus. Inside the bed were the three boys he'd considered family until a few hours ago, all comfortably lazing about on the mattress that had obviously been magically expanded. Sirius looked for his spot in the circle, always near the footboard, and saw that it remained open. Despite the missing person from their gathering, they all seemed to be  
having a merry time.

"And then...and then I go 'Mistletoe may be infested with nargles, Evans, but they're repelled by the scent of papaya, and I  just happen to have a papaya in my pocket!'" James was gasping through his chuckles as he continued his story. "She was so shocked that I pulled a papaya out of my pocket, she didn't even blink when I kissed her!" James seemed to be ending the tale of his latest escapade with Lily, which both Remus and Peter seemed to find equally hilarious.

"How did you even know about the whole papaya thing?" Peter finally managed to get out through his laughs.

"Back in first year, I had detention with this 6th year from Ravenclaw, Xenophilibus or something, and when we were cleaning out the holiday storage closets we came across piles and piles of mistletoe. Xeno-whatever promptly jumped in front of me, explaining it was infested with nargles and we shouldn't go anywhere near it without papaya juice," he explained. "I'm really gonna have to thank Sirius for getting me that deten–" James cut off his sentence rather abruptly.

"When is this going to be done, James?" Remus looked at him almost pleadingly. "I'm ready to forgive him. You can't expect him to keep apologizing, not forever, and especially not after tonight."

"I want him to _learn_. Sirius doesn't learn from his mistakes, and this was the last straw. He still doesn't see what he did  
to Snape as wrong." The cheeriness had drained out of the atmosphere as the boys drifted into not-so-familiar territory.

"But he's Sirius, James. He doesn't see what he does and how it affects others. You know that." Remus tried to reason with the stubborn James, but it didn't seem to be working.

"What if I don't want to clean up after him anymore, Remus? This whole thing with you and Snivellus was the last straw – I can't do it anymore. He may have been my best friend..."

Sirius pulled his head out of the curtain, unable to listen to James any longer. _May have been?_ He was well aware of the fact that he was no longer friends with James, but it was still a shock to hear. He turned to the ghost, attempting to mask his hurt.

"Where to next?"

"Well, let's see, shall we?" The man grabbed his hand, and once more Sirius felt the tug of a Portkey.

As Sirius opened his eyes he noticed that very little had changed about his surroundings, with the exception of one less bed and a change in the décor. From the green curtains on each bed, Sirius deduced he was in a Slytherin dormitory, though he was unsure of which.

"Where are we?"

"I'm sure you'll figure it out soon enough."

With that little help, Sirius began searching the dormitory for any clue he could, well aware that not much would help him determine one Slytherin from another. Once again hoping to use pictures as his guide, Sirius walked over to the first picture frame he saw. The most shocking aspect about the picture was that it was stationary – no moving in and out of the frame. What was a Muggle picture doing in Slytherin, of all places? Upon closer examining, Sirius saw that the picture was of two  
young kids, no more than ten. His eyes were quickly drawn to a mess of bright red hair and a pair of shocking green eyes. _Lily?_ If this was a picture of Lily, then this dormitory was surely –

"AAAHH!"

Severus Snape stormed into the room, followed shortly by Rabastan Lestrange and Walden Macnair.

"Look, I'm sorry Sev – I'll buy you a new one, okay?" Lestrange pleaded.

"That's not the point! That book, it's got notes, spells, my own inventions!" Whatever book it was, Snivellus was not happy he had lost it.

Rabastan didn't seem to understand severity of the loss. "But Sev, it's just _Advanced Potion-Making_...you don't need a book for that class anyway – you're a natural."

"Oh no, Rabastan. It's not just a book. Don't you know what Severus keeps in that book? His Mudblood bookmark – the note that filthy Evans girl wrote him years ago." Macnair's voice dripped with disgust.

"DON'T TALK ABOUT HER LIKE THAT!" Snape looked as if he would slit Macnair's throat if he had a knife. "You don't KNOW her, so don't TALK about her."

Sirius watched the exchange in front of him a little more than surprised. Snape... _defending_ Lily? Hadn't they broken it off back in fifth year? Lost in his wonderings, Sirius didn't hear the spirit next to him for some time.

"Excuse me, fella – you ready?"

"What? Oh, yeah...sure." Sirius was ready to leave, if only to have some time to think more about Snape defending Evans. "Let's go." As Sirius reached out for the spirit's hand, he took one last glimpse at Snivellus, the boy he thought he knew.

Once more in the comfort of the Gryffindor common room, Sirius hoped that the final spirit, presumably Christmas Future or something, would take their time getting to him. He needed to process what he'd just seen.

_How could Snape so adamantly defend someone he didn't speak to in the slightest? Why did he keep a picture of the two of them on his  
bedside table? Who would've expected Snivellus to hold onto one friend so strongly?_

Sirius was once more pulled out of his thoughts on Snape's behavior, this time by a hand grazing his shoulder. Expecting to see some prefect waking him to tell him to return to his dormitory, Sirius jumped away when he saw the shriveled grey hand perched on his shoulder. As Sirius stumbled backwards, he took in the figure in front of him, which very much resembled a Dementor. In fact, the only thing that led Sirius to believe that it _wasn't_ a Dementor was that he was still quite able to think positively. Despite the notion that the tall creature wasn't going to suck out his soul, Sirius was still hesitant to trust it with his life.

"Christmas...Future? Yet to Come?" Sirius was extremely wary of this newest figure.

The cloaked figure merely nodded, raising its hand in response. Sirius, still loathe to touch the spirit, hesitated in grabbing the hand. However, the figure made no move to grasp Sirius; it simply pointed behind him.

As Sirius turned, he found himself watching a young boy showing a rat to his parents. "Look, Mum! Father Christmas brought me a rat, just like I asked!" There was something strangely familiar about that rat...but why would Peter be living in his Animagus form? And shouldn't the Marauders be spending Christmas together?

However, Sirius didn't have much more time to contemplate what he'd seen, as the figure motioned to a scene to Sirius's left. Turning once more, Sirius watched as what appeared to be a much older Remus shivering in the cold. His cloak was tattered and thin, not doing much to keep out the harsh winter. Sirius watched on as Remus stumbled into a run-down flat complex with the words "Vacancy – Inquire Within" written hastily on a piece of paper taped in the window.

Remus walked past the office door and into what was presumably his flat. Expecting to see the flat decked out in full Christmas attire due to Remus' love for the holiday, Sirius was disheartened when he saw that the room was sparsely furnished, let alone decorated. Throwing his cloak on one of the two chairs in the apartment, Remus walked over to his cupboards, pulling out food for dinner. It wasn't until Sirius took a closer look that he realized Remus wasn't pulling out multiple items; he was searching the cabinets for any remaining food. What had brought Remus to this level of destitution? And why hadn't James or Sirius  
helped him out when he needed it?

Once Remus found what remaining scraps he had left in his flat, he moved to a table and pulled out a quill and parchment. Curious as to what he was writing, Sirius moved to read over his shoulder.

_Dear Professor Dumbledore,_

_I'm writing in response to your request regarding the teaching_  
position at Hogwarts. Although I am aware that the position you  
requested I fill is currently filled by Gilderoy Lockhart, I would like  
to inquire about the position for next term. Should Mr. Lockhart be  
unable to fill his position for more than this year, I ask that you  
consider me as a potential substitute. I am unfortunately unable to  
furnish any substantial references, due to my condition, but I will do  
my best. If you have found someone more qualified than me, I understand  
fully. After all, I'm more qualified for Care of Magical Creatures,  
don't you think?

Remus laughed to himself at what Sirius thought was a very poor joke as he signed the letter. _Why on earth was Remus practically begging Dumbledore for a job?_ Very afraid of what was going to appear next, Sirius turned to the figure.

"This is what we've come to? But...but it can change, right?" Sirius was frantic. "That's why time travel doesn't work – because the future's always changing!"

The figure seemed to ignore Sirius's outburst and merely pointed behind Sirius once more. Turning around once more, Sirius found he was face to face with a much older, much sorrier looking version of himself. Unsure of what he was observing, Sirius took in his surroundings – stone walls, a small cot in the corner, the only entrance to the room – a small gate on one wall. It didn't take long for Sirius to realize where he was, and the rattling breath and long cloak of the creature standing on the other side of the door solidified his thoughts. He, Sirius Black, was in Azkaban.

"WHAT?" Sirius turned to the cloaked figure for the second time, once again questioning what he was seeing. "You have to show me how this happened! You have to!"

In what seemed to be a response, the figure nodded his head to Sirius' right this time, where Sirius turned for the final time. Sirius quickly recognized where he was, having spent many days there during the summer – Godric's Hollow. More specifically, Sirius was in the small graveyard that was nestled just outside the main village. Unsure of what he should be looking for, Sirius looked to the figure for guidance. Sirius' eyes followed the direction of the figure's finger and promptly fell to his knees.

James Potter                                            Lily Potter

March 27, 1960 – October 31, 1981       January 30, 1960 – October 31, 1981

"NO!" Sirius felt as if his heart had been ripped from his chest. "Not James...I would never!" Sirius turned to look at the figure as tears began falling down his face. "You're wrong! This can't be!"

Sirius collapsed on the ground, no longer able to support himself. He was unsure of how long he lay there with the feeling that a huge hole had been ripped out of his chest, but eventually he lifted himself up, in search of the Spirit of Christmas Yet to Come. It wasn't long before he realized that he wasn't in the cemetery, but in the comfort of the Gryffindor common room.

As the sun rose on Christmas Day, 1976, Sirius found himself in one of the last places he expected – sitting outside the Slytherin common room. As he'd been in no mood for comfort last night, Sirius had wandered the school, working out a way to change the future he had seen. And despite every scheme he'd come up with, every plan to change their destinies, everything burned down to one thing – owning up to his mistakes.

It was his mistakes that brought him to Slytherin; he needed to apologize to Snape. Although Sirius didn't agree with Snape often (ever, really), he'd seen something in Snape last night. Snape had defended a girl who no longer considered him a friend; he'd defended her against the people he considered friends. As hard as it was for him to admit, in that instance, Snape was a better man than him. Snape was a man who deserved an apology.

Sirius looked up at the sound of the portrait to meet the blue eyes he was so familiar with. "Regulus."

"Brother." Regulus stared at Sirius quizzically for a few moments, and when neither made a move to speak, Regulus continued walking passed Sirius.

It was another few minutes before anyone else emerged from the common room, this time, a few nameless third-years. Sirius grabbed one of them, and in an act of desperation, sent her in to get Snape. Aware that there was a slim chance Snape would actually come out at the request of a third-year, Sirius began pacing back and forth, devising a plan to get Snivellus out. His head snapped up as he heard the portrait snap open and shut once more, this time finding himself staring at a hooked nose and black eyes.

"Black."

The harsh tone he was greeted with caused Sirius to forget his reason for being there, and he quickly fell back into old habits.  
"Snape."

After a few moments, Snape looked at him expectantly. "Is there a reason you called me out here, or am I meant to stand here and read your mind?"

Sirius remembered his purpose for being there and suddenly felt as if he were going about this the entirely wrong way. Surely he didn't need to ask _Snape_ for forgiveness. Surely he didn't have to debase himself to that level.

"About what happened last full moon," Sirius started. "There's something I need to say."

"Look, Black, Dumbledore already made me swear to maintain my silence. I won't be saying anything as of yet – I value my position at Hogwarts too much."

"No, that's not – WHAT DO YOU MEAN _YET_? It's not yours to tell you son of a–" Sirius cut off when he saw Snape turn away. Anxious to get this over with, Sirius ran in front of him "Look – I just wanted to apologize for my role in all of it. That's it."

"Oh, this is _rich_. The high and mighty Sirius Black," Snape sneered, "apologizing to lowly old _Snivellus_ Snape. Very well, if it will ease your guilt – I do not accept. You can fester in your misery, and as far as I'm concerned, this school is better off without you and your little gang of friends. If you ask me, the Marauders should've died a long time ago."

"And who said the Marauders are dead?" A voice questioned from behind Snape.

Snape jumped around looking for the source of the voice, while Sirius was well aware that Remus must be hiding under the Invisibility Cloak nearby.

"In fact, who says the Marauders will _ever_ die?" A second voice continued, this time from up near the ceiling.

As Snape searched for this second voice, Sirius wondered how Peter had managed to  
remain invisible at that height.

"You know, Snivellus, I think it's time that you learn proper manners. Didn't your mummy ever tell you that when someone _apologizes_ ," James emphasized from near where Remus had spoken, "you should accept it?"

"I do believe it is time for him to learn his lesson," Remus continued. "And you know what they say – practice makes perfect!"

One of them must've removed the Invisibility Cloak, as all three appeared at once. What happened next occurred quite fast, and appeared to be very well-rehearsed. Peter and James both raised their wands and shouted together, "Expelliarmus!" The use of words enabled Snape to block their spells; however they served their purpose of distracting him. During the time it took for Snape to block the Disarming spells, Remus quietly muttered an incantation and subtly flicked his wand. Still unaware of Remus' attack, Snape sneered at them, "four on one, and the best you've got is a _verbal_ Disarming spell? For shame." Thinking he'd finally gotten the better of the infamous Marauders, Severus Snape walked off to Christmas breakfast.

Sirius looked at all three boys in shock. "What are you doing here?"

"Now, now, Padfoot," James put an arm around his shoulder, "you can't really think we'd leave you to face Snape yourself!"

"Not what he means, Prongs," Remus interjected.

"What happened to 'you're no brother of mine' huh? I thought we were through?" Sirius was unsure of why he was fighting this. Hadn't he wanted James to forgive him? Wasn't that the point of apologizing to Snivellus?

"Well, you know, I realized last night that you can't just write someone off like that. You're my brother, Sirius, always. Brothers  
fight, right?"

"Right."

"And my mum always taught me that when someone apologizes," James looked at Sirius, "I should accept. I'm sorry I've been such a prat. It won't happen again."

"Yes, it will," Sirius paused, "but brothers are prats sometimes."

The four boys turned to walk to breakfast, as if nothing had ever separated them, with Sirius confidant that he had succeeded in changing the futures the four brothers faced.

"Hey, Pete," he turned to his right, "how'd you get up to the ceiling invisible?"

"I didn't," Peter's voice came from the...left?

Sirius looked at Peter, confused. "Umm...explain."

"My mom is a ventriloquist...I've picked up a few things."

The four laughed and carried on the rest of the way to the Dining Hall, all eager to enjoy their first meal together in what seemed like ages. It wasn't until about halfway through breakfast that Sirius remembered what had happened earlier.

"Hey, Remus, what did you do to Snivellus?"

A grin spread across the werewolf's face. "Rather brilliant if I do say so myself. Ask him a question and you're bound to get a whole lot more than you bargained for. Allow me to demonstrate." Remus stood up on the bench and yelled across the Hall. "Hey, Snape!" The Great Hall went quiet.

Snape looked up from his conversation to find who had called his name. Seeing who it was, he promptly dismissed him and returned to breakfast.

"Hey, Snape!" Getting his attention this time, Remus yelled once more. "What do you do when you're feeling alone?"

"What are you playing at, Lupin?" Snape began. Unfortunately for Snape, that was all he got out before the jinx came into effect. "When I'm stuck with a day, that's gray, and lonely, I just stick up my chin and grin, and saaaayyy..."

Not much more could be heard as the students who had remained at Hogwarts for Christmas erupted in laughter and Snape attempted (and failed miserably) to stop himself from breaking out into a second chorus of Little Orphan Annie.

No, the Marauders _certainly_ weren't dead.


End file.
